The Greek Minister of Environment and Energy, Theodoros Skylakakis, the President of the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (OFYPEKA-NECCA), Maria Papadopoulou, the co-founder and Policy Director of The Green Tank, Ioli Christopoulou, the President and Founder of OceanCare, Sigrid Lueber, and the Managing Director of OceanCare, Fabienne McLellan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the effective development and full operation of SAvE Whales.
‘Today is a landmark day for the protection of sperm whales and the country’s biodiversity protection policy. In recent years, more and more international organizations have passed resolutions calling for urgent action to address the main threat to sperm whales in the Mediterranean, the collision with passing ships. With the MoU we signed today, we are giving perspective to an innovative solution in a key marine habitat within the Hellenic Trench for this species that has been identified as a high-risk area. In close collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy, NECCA, OceanCare and scientists, The Green Tank will contribute to the coordination and full implementation of the system in the Kythira Strait’, said Ioli Christopoulou on behalf of The Green Tank.
‘The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding is the fruition of years of efforts to safeguard sperm whales, in collaboration with Greek scientists, Alexandros Frantzis, PELAGOS Cetacean Research Institute, and Emmanuel Skarsoulis, FORTH. Despite the challenges, we managed to design a system based on smart technology responding to the greatest threat for the sperm whales population in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Our objective is for the system to steer the course in the Hellenic Trench for more intensive and complementary efforts to protect sperm whales from the threat of ship strikes, especially in areas – such as the Kythira Strait – where re-routing is not possible’, said Sigrid Lueber on behalf of OceanCare.
You can find the link for the press release by the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy here.
The SAvE Whales system is an innovative system locating the exact position of sperm whales up to 7 kilometers and transmitting the information in real-time to inform mariners to slow down or adjust route in order to avoid collision.
A joint commitment by the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy, NECCA, OceanCare and The Green Tank to upgrade the SAvE Whales system was announced during the 9th Our Ocean Conference.
